Sheesh! Third time on market in 5 years.
Sold after more than 30 days on market in March for $1,580,000
Kitchen redone (but doesn’t look like much else), on market at $1,485,000
Of course selling price is what’s important, but I’m surprised to see a flip offered at lower than buy straight out.
There must be some inconsistency in how data is entered because I see entries for $1,199 -> $1,199,000 also. Like some MLS requires the last three 000 and another MLS expects those left off.
I am seeing quite a few price drops & fallen through transactions in my Menlo Park/Palo Alto alerts too. I have had these alerts set up for a couple years and have never seen this many before. Prices are still INSANE though.
Yeah, though to be honest, the deal of the century was them getting Chesire Way for $500K. No idea what was wrong with it, but it was a short sale, and I was hoping to see it and would’ve paid way more than that. I’ve always thought something slimy went on with that transaction.
Bingo! Not necessarily slimy but pocket listings have always worked out well for me. You can’t be just another bidder in the open house pool. By that time, it is too late! Need to align with good realtors with many contacts to tap hidden gems.
This was a short sale. The agent should have had a financial responsibility towards the bank to get the highest bid which should easily have been $700-800K at the time.
I’ve never seen a pocket listing that was a good deal. They were all WAY over market. Maybe realtors keep all the good pocket listings for themselves??
A really low sales price is probably the seller participating on the upside with the flipper buyer, or sale to a friend or relative. …Or maybe there were foundation issues…hard to know all the details on every transaction. …But reos and short sales should be priced 10-20% below market…they all have issues and are not worth retail prices…
My response was to @Elt1’s comment that slimy transactions are great on the inside. Emphasis really was on the inside part of his comment, which is why I referenced pocket listings and or private sales since those are essentially inside deals correct? All my properties have been bought technically through this way. None had a for sale sign out there. The thing is, these opportunities don’t come around too often as you can imagine but they do. Again, how many properties do you really need? Unlike others here, I am small time with several properties in the Bay Area and that is enough for me. Yes, if I were single I probably would be wheeling and dealing more because I would be willing to rehab and sell and take the gain into the next home. My wife is not willing to do that since her commute into the city could be bad so that is life. The tradeoff is my wife is great, pretty and a mean cook. Yeah, no more properties UNLESS it is a great deal (according to wife).
Well, pocket listings are essentially where a broker has exclusive rights to a home but it is not openly marketed. Ok, that is how I bought my home in San Francisco. I had a relationship with a mortgage broker for my East Bay property at the time and he referred me to his buddy, an agent in SF. This was in 2002-3 when the SF market was hot. I was one of many in the herd at open houses and quite frankly was not willing to overbid on properties. So, the agent I was referred to had an officemate who had this listing. It was not marketed openly yet. My agent told me to go by there, the seller wants X amount and if you want it it is yours. It needed some work, but it was perfectly located and had potential for expansion. Again, no for sale sign yet out there. I quickly had my contractor look at it and bingo bought it at asking price. Yes, the broker’s other office mates were livid that they could have easily gotten a higher price for him but my agent’s officemate didn’t care. He is a seasoned agent and things like this came up all the time for him. He liked a quick, clean deal. Cool with me. House would have likely sold for 100K minimum more had it gone to market in a matter of a week or two. Again, we keep it in our inner circle, so when I do sell who is going to have the listing? Of course, the agent who found it for me. I am loyal and would scratch his back when the time comes. And of course, as a seller, I ain’t stupid I would go to market officially…
The last Fremont buy was technically a private sale where the owner didn’t want to deal with brokers and I was made aware of the offer. Now, granted this person was fairly well to do and was retiring so didn’t care about top dollar, just a clean deal. I saw the house, had it inspected, and boom wrote up a contract and it is mine without a for sale sign. A nice but small 3 bd 1 ba in Fremont with a good sized lot for under 500k. Not bad. Rent easily covers mortage and taxes and the house is going up in value every day. What more do you want?
I am fortunate to know several seasoned realtors who live on my block and they have shown me properties that I could have bought before any sign went up but I passed for whatever reason. I am still kicking myself for balking on one in SF that had an inlaw that we couldn’t valid as legal so I held off. Well, he sold it to another client the following week and I missed out on already 250K in equity gain.
When my sis bought in Emerald Hills, her inlaw relative was a local broker and found her that home. Yes, that was listed but she won it and was not looking forever and overbidding on places. It helps to have a great broker who has a lot of experience and contacts. I never deal with newbie realtors. They won’t have access to any real deals.
I agree that realtors probably do a fair amount of keeping for themselves but fortunately in my actual experiences these were seasoned realtors who had plenty already and wanted quick turnaround deals. Keep in mind, that means they also expand their potential client bases too. Let’s not forget that aspect of it. When I sell, I will use the agent who found me that great buy (if that were the case) since I am loyal and know when to scratch someone’s back when it is their turn. And these realtors know that I may know a lot of buyers/sellers too so it is worth it to them to hand off a bone now and then, right? It is not like they are making nothing on the deal just a bit less.
Ok. That’s what I thought, but I thought you were calling this one a pocket listing and that maybe I had misunderstood the term.
I know realtors love pocket listings because it gives them an edge with the buyers. Even if everyone (except Redfin) has pocket listings, it still justifies them saying that if you go with them, you can get tips on houses before they come to market.
Realtors have plenty of inside info…but most never do anything about it…Successful realtors, as in make lots of sales, are good at sales and marketing …maybe not at investing…Sales people are oten motivated by making money to spend money. …They constantly have to go to work to get more. …Often they are in debt or are shopaholics…have to have the latest cars and clothes…Successful investors are just the opposite. …they are thrifty and patient. …reflective and inhibited…not good qualities in a sales person…I know the top sales guy in Tahoe Keys. .sells more houses than anyone…never invests, always cries poor…I told him with all his inside info he should invest, or at least joint venture with investors…He looked confused. .just didnt get it…rather spend all his cash on marketing, flyers and zillow ads…
187K below asking ? In 1.2M price range. Overpriced originally or its beginning of the end ?
I know - there are multyunits around of this house but anyway…
I’m surprised at the sale price as well, but no garage, so who know how that affected the price. Unfortunately, i didn’t see it. Yes, undesirable part of town, but still lower than I’d expect for that square footage.
Neighbors got “upset “ about it.
One of the neighbor happened to be a lawyer.
On NextDoor was too much negative emotions over it. Neighbors even posted signs in front of their doors and on windows “No HobHouse”
Eventually neighbors went to building department and city council with complaints…
Looks like “Hubhouse” did not work for the owner.
I heard that city demanded to much to fix and to obtain permits (retrospective).
RWC is very near to FB, GOOGLE and other companies, people wants to live near by for easy commute. RWC is the only nearest place where prices are lower compared to other cities (except EPA).
